


everybody wants someone (i want to be somebody)

by Lady_of_the_Spirit



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Friendships, Episode: s02e21 Chapter Thirty-Four: Judgment Night, Fangs Fogarty is a sweetheart, Female Pronouns for Reader, Gen, Gun Violence, Gunshot Wounds, I tease Jughead a little but there's no bashing, Insecurity, Male-Female Friendship, Reader does not become a Southside Serpent, Reader-Insert, Self-Esteem Issues, Written before season three started, at which point it becomes, canon compliant up to a point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2020-06-24 07:51:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19719358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_the_Spirit/pseuds/Lady_of_the_Spirit
Summary: Ms. Rogers looked at the class. "Would anyone be willing to share their script with Fangs?"You looked around. No one raised their hand. In fact, they were all engrossed in the scripts they had been groaning about only a few seconds ago. You looked at Fangs. He was looking around as well, and you watched him realize no one wanted to help him out.You chewed your lip, took a breath and raised your hand. Ms. Rogers noticed and smiled at you. "Yes, (Y/N)?"She was really going to make you say it? You pulled at your shirt sleeves as everyone turned to stare at you. "I can share with Fangs. If he doesn't mind."Fangs shrugged. He grabbed his stuff, stood up and joined you at your desk. You straightened your script, pretending to be busy."Thanks," he said."No problem," you said for the second time that day.You know you're not special, but you do your best to make the Southsider's lives a little easier. That includes risking your life for one of them.





	1. Chapter 1

You had always known you were nothing special. It wasn't like anyone had told you that. It was just something you had realized yourself at some point. You weren't special. You were no star athlete, you weren't a genius, your family was working middle-class, you weren't popular or an outcast at school - you were just normal. Average. In a town where everyone had to be  _something_ , something  _special_ , one extreme or the other, you were in the middle.   
  
Being in the middle meant being overlooked. Frankly, given the circumstances of your town, that was the better option. You were fine with that. You didn't want to draw attention to yourself. You weren't Veronica or Cheryl, who always headed straight for the middle of things without a second thought, and you were certainly no Jughead, reveling in being an outcast but always drawing attention to just how much an outcast he was. You were just yourself. You didn't like too much attention or being in the middle of the drama, or even being in the presence of drama (a hard thing to be, honestly, given how events at your school played out like a soap opera).   
  
You were so averse to drama, in fact, that you weren't even there when the Southsiders first arrived at Riverdale High.   
  
You had known about it, of course - everyone at school knew about it. Some of them had set up a welcoming committee, led by Veronica. And, as you heard from some of your friends who had witnessed it, some students had formed a group protesting the Southsiders arrival, led, of course, by Cheryl and the Bulldogs.  
  
You frowned when you heard that.   
  
You, like everyone else in town, had heard stories about the Southside and the Southside Serpents nearly all your life, always about their crimes and their poverty and how everything that went wrong in Riverdale was because of them. It had always struck you as completely unfair, especially when you learned that nearly half of the gang was made up of high schoolers around your age. You had learned enough to understand the cycle of poverty and the cycle of violence and all of that, and you could understand their situation. While you had argued this point with a couple of different people, the majority of the Northside were opposed to your beliefs or just didn't want to apply them to the Southside Serpents. Eventually, you had just learned to keep your mouth shut, though you still brought the topic up every so often.   
  
Despite your dislike of drawing attention to yourself, you weren't going to treat the Southsiders badly just because they came from the Southside. Your parents had raised you right, and you had basic human decency. While everyone was either going out of their way to welcome them or be unnecessarily antagonistic, you would do what you always did - you would be normal. You would be kind.   
  
Maybe you couldn't do anything extraordinary, but you could help make their lives a little easier.   
  


* * *

  
  
You came across your first Southsider on your way to your second period English class. She was leaning against a wall and staring down at two sheets of paper, occasionally glancing up and around the hallway.   
  
You took in her Serpent jacket, the fact that the hallway was mostly deserted, took in a deep breath and approached her with what you hoped was an easygoing appearance. "Hey, you need help?"   
  
She looked up and squinted at you suspiciously. After a second, you were pretty sure she had deemed you not a threat, because she stood up straight and said, "I can't find my next class."   
  
"You mind if I?" You gestured towards her schedule and her map; she handed it over to you after another suspicious look. You looked over her schedule. "Oh, Mrs. Haggly's class is that way." You pointed down the hall. "It's easy to miss because it's right under the stairs. You just go that way and when you reach the stairwell, turn right, and it's right there." You handed her schedule back.   
  
She nodded at you, muttered "Thanks" under her breath, and walked past you without another word.   
  
"No problem," you said, even though you were pretty sure she had ignored you. You kept walking toward your English class. 

* * *

  
  
"Open your scripts to Act One, Scene Three," Ms. Rogers told the class. There was the usual groaning that came whenever your class read plays because Ms. Rogers always assigned roles to people so the class could read the scripts out loud. Everyone hated this. Luckily you always managed to avoid such things because you always sat close to the back and near the window, just out of her line of sight.   
  
You were about to open your script when you noticed a hand in the air. You followed the arm it was attached to and found yourself looking at another Southside Serpent. The rest of the class noticed and started staring at him as well. He either didn't notice or didn't care, but whichever it was, he handled it better than you would have.   
  
"I don't have a script," he announced when Ms. Rogers noticed his hand. You glanced to the empty chair next to him; the girl who usually sat there seemed to have decided to switch seats for the day.   
  
Ms. Rogers nodded. "Not a problem, Fangs." With anyone else, you would have assumed it was a nickname, but Ms. Rogers refused to call people by nicknames - she had always called Jughead "Forsythe," much to his hatred. So his name was really  _Fangs_ ? "Unfortunately, I don't have any extra scripts at the moment, but you can share with someone else until I'm able to get a copy, is that alright?"   
  
Fangs nodded and Ms. Rogers looked at the class. "Would anyone be willing to share their script with Fangs?"   
  
You looked around. No one raised their hand. In fact, they were all engrossed in the scripts they had been groaning about only a few seconds ago. You looked at Fangs. He was looking around as well, and you watched him realize no one wanted to help him out. His expression grew stony and his shoulders rose as he crossed his arms.   
  
You chewed your lip, took a breath and raised your hand. Ms. Rogers noticed and smiled at you. "Yes, (Y/N)?"  
  
She was really going to make you say it? You pulled at your shirt sleeves as everyone - including Fangs - turned to stare at you. "I can share with Fangs. If he doesn't mind."   
  
Fangs shrugged. He grabbed his stuff, stood up and joined you at your desk. You straightened your script, pretending to be busy as you glanced at him out of the corner of your eye. He was tall, about average height. When his hand came down on the chair next to you, you noticed he wore one or two rings on both hands. When he sat down, placing his crossed arms on the desk, you had to look at him fully. He was good-looking, you noticed, with neatly styled Jet black hair and dark eyes.   
  
"Thanks," he said.   
  
"No problem," you said for the second time that day. You opened your script to the right page and slid it over so you could both read it.   
  
"What are we reading?" He leaned over to scan the page.   
  
" _Taming of the Shrew_ , by Shakespeare." You paused. "Have you ever read it?"   
  
He tilted his head and made a so-so gesture with his hand. "I've heard of it. Probably skimmed a Wikipedia summary when I was bored once."   
  
You couldn't help but smile. "Well, then you probably know more than some people in this class." You pointed to the line the class was on. "This is the script. The right margins have a basic summary of what's going on, in case you don't understand Shakespeare. The left margins have notes and definitions for words or sentences that are archaic or just don't make sense to modern readers."   
  
Fangs nodded. "Cool, thanks." You shrugged in response, and as the actors Ms. Rogers had chosen began to read, neither of you spoke. Fangs gave occasional commentary under his breath, and you weren't sure if he meant for you to hear him or not. Even so, sometimes his comments made you crack a smile, and out of the corner of your eye, you noticed him smile as well.  
  
When you passed him in the hall later, he gave you a wink and you smiled, but otherwise, everything went about normally.   
  


* * *

  
  
The time in-between your lunch and math period led you to a pair of Southside Serpents who were looking just as lost as the girl had earlier, but were hiding it under the guise of glaring at their surroundings. You only noticed them because you saw a familiar piece of wrinkled paper being passed between them as they took turns glaring at everyone.   
  
You walked up to them. They gave you a suspicious look before flipping their paper around and shoving it towards you.   
  
"Chem class. Beaker. Do you know where it is?" The one on the right demanded, as though they had approached you instead of the reverse.  
  
You nodded. "It's upstairs. You go up the main staircase and then turn left, and it's the big room next to the vending machines."   
  
They nodded at you, saying "Thanks" as they walked away. You continued on your way.   
  


* * *

  
  
Math class with Mr. Bell led you to another Southside Serpent, a girl with pink highlights and a blue plaid flannel shirt tied around her waist. You noticed she lacked the Serpent jacket you had seen the others wearing throughout the day. Mr. Bell introduced her as Toni Topaz and then told her where she could sit.  
  
You, flipping open your textbook to the chapter you were on, didn't realize she was going to sit next to you until you heard a cough, looked up, and saw her staring at you with a raised eyebrow.   
  
You quickly removed your bag and jacket from her new seat and placed them on the floor next to you. She sat in her chair and gave you a quick full-body scan. "You're (Y/N), right?"   
  
You nodded. "Yep."  
  
"Toni Topaz." She nodded at you. "What have you been doing so far?"  
  
You shrugged, looking back down at your textbook. "Binomials and polynomials. FOIL. Normal stuff." You glanced back up at her. "What were you doing in math at Southside?"  
  
She laughed. "We were lucky if our teacher showed up for class."   
  
Your mouth set into a thin line, a confusing mix of pity and sympathy filling your chest. She noticed. Her face closed off. "It's not a big deal. It's just how it was."   
  
You nodded. "Right. Sorry." You pulled in your sleeve. "You have a textbook, right?"   
  
"Yeah, the teacher gave me one. Why, does everyone here buy their own?" She said, suddenly sitting up straight and staring at you defensively.   
  
You made sure to keep your own defence systems from raising, made sure to keep calm. "No, we all get ours from school. But there weren't enough books in English for your friend earlier and I thought if you didn't have one, we could share. But." You shrugged, biting your tongue before you could continue and make things worse.   
  
Toni frowned, not angry anymore but confused. "Friend?"  
  
"Fangs?"  
  
She relaxed. "Oh, yeah. He mentioned that. Thanks."   
  
You shrugged. "No problem."  
  


* * *

  
  
Biology faced you with the most terrifying Southsider you had met so far (not that you had met too many). He was so  _tall_ and he held himself like he was constantly keeping his rage just simmering below the surface, ready to lash out at the smallest of slights. His eyes were dark, like Fangs' had been, but they held anger you hadn't seen in Fangs. The fact that he wasn't wearing his Serpent jacket did not make him seem any more approachable. In fact, it somehow made him even scarier. The only way you were able to even tell he was a Serpent was because of the snake tattoo you could see on his neck, peeking out from under his shirt collar. He looked like he could have been a Greaser in another life - Hell, you weren't even sure if he wouldn't be considered a Greaser now.   
  
Fangs had seemed calm, cool, a little bit more level-headed; Toni had been relaxed but still seemed ready to fight; this guy seemed like he was constantly two seconds away from flipping a table.  
  
Even so, you forced yourself to keep calm when Professor Pierce paired the two of you up for the day's dissection. The Professor had even pulled you aside just a minute before he had paired everyone up, just to let you know what he was doing. He was only doing it because Sweet Pea's addition to the class ( _Sweet Pea?_ You thought in disbelief; something was up with the Southside parents) made an uneven number, and you were the only person who wouldn't raise a fuss about being paired up with a Serpent.   
  
You had nodded, accepted this, and then watched calmly as Sweet Pea approached you with a stormy glare on his face. One of the people you sat next to gave you a reassuring pat on the back, which made you wince since you were sure Sweet Pea would have noticed that. If the dark glare he sent your deskmate was any indication, you were sure he had.   
  
"You're Sweet Pea?" You asked, making sure not to make it sound like you were questioning his name or laughing at it (even though it was kind of funny).   
  
"Yeah."   
  
"Cool. I'm-"  
  
"I know who you are," he interrupted. "What are we even doing?"  
  
"Dissecting earthworms."   
  
Sweet Pea nodded and sat down next to you. He sat like Fangs did, with his arms crossed and on the desk. You chewed your lip, looking around the lab in an attempt to not make it seem like you were staring at him. You occasionally would feel him staring at you, but you made sure to keep your eyes off of him.   
  
When Professor Pierce placed the tray with the earthworm in front of you two, you opened your notebook. "Do you want to do the dissecting?" You asked, finally looking at him.  
  
"Why, 'cause I'm a Southsider I know all about using a knife? Cutting things up?" He snapped, fists balling up. You resisted the urge to flinch when he raised his voice.  
  
"No, because one of us needs to take notes and I'd rather not dissect anything," you said, making sure to keep your tone even. "If you wanted to take notes, though, I'm fine with that."  
  
He glared at you for a few seconds more, before pulling the tray closer to him. "No, I'll do it."  
  
It wasn't even five seconds later that you had another incident. Sweet Pea had examined the knife he had been given to cut the worm, muttered that it wasn't sharp enough, and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket. Your eyes widened and you quickly looked around to make sure no one had noticed. When you looked back he was glaring at you again. You chewed your lip and then leaned over on your desk, enough that if Professor Pierce looked over at the two of you, he wouldn't be able to see Sweet Pea's knife. Sweet Pea, noticing this, stopped glaring at you so much and nodded at you in what might have been appreciation.   
  
Towards the end of class, when the two of you were done and other classmates were scrambling to write down some final notes, you finally asked what you had been thinking about the entire day. "What happened to your jacket?"   
  
You regretted it the instant you asked it when Sweet Pea returned to glaring at you. "That Mantle guy drew our symbol on your school crest, and Weatherbee said we're not allowed to wear our jackets or show any gang symbols at all. It's fucking _bogus,_ but we never should have expected to be treated fairly by any Northsider." The anger that had partially vanished over the last hour and a half was back, full-force, apparent in the fury in his eyes and the tension in his shoulders.  
  
You chewed your lip, thinking about what he had said and how you could get him to calm down just a bit. "No, you're right," you admitted. "It isn't fair you're being blamed for this. It doesn't make any sense, anyway. If any of you had done it, you wouldn't have had the chance to do it without anyone noticing. Reggie's just an asshole, and I wish I could say most of us are different, but..." you shrugged helplessly. There wasn't much you could say. It was far too obvious that most of the school wasn't comfortable with the Southsiders present, and even beside them, the majority of the Northside was against the Southside - especially the Serpents.   
  
Sweet Pea scowled, and when the bell rang, announcing the end of the day, he grabbed his stuff and took off without another word, intentionally knocking into a few people on his way out. You exhaled.   
  
You would be better tomorrow. 

* * *

  
  
The next day you entered English and the first thing you noticed was Fangs sitting next to your seat again. He gave you a mock salute when he saw you. You allowed yourself to smile.   
  
"No jacket," you noted as you sat down. "I heard about what Reggie did. He's an ass."   
  
Fangs snorted. "You don't have to tell me twice. But it isn't a big deal."   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Most of us," here Fangs absentminded drew an S shape on the desk with his finger, "agree that removing our jackets and covering up our tattoos is a small price to pay for going to a good school. The only one bent out of shape about it is Jones."   
  
"Jughead?" Hadn't he only gone to the Southside for maybe three or four weeks?   
  
Fangs rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it."   
  
You thought about Jughead. You wondered how he was coping with everything.   
  
Ms. Rogers told the class to open their books. Fangs, leaning against the desk on one elbow, holding his head up with one hand, looking incredibly cool even without his leather jacket, looked at you expectantly, though he had a hint of a smile.   
  
You allowed yourself to smile back a bit and pulled your script out.   
  
Ms. Rogers, perhaps aiming to mess everything in your life up, called on you and Fangs to read for Katarina and Petruchio. You could feel heat crawling up your neck and cheeks as you read through Katarina's lines. Was this what came from being nice to people? Drawing attention to yourself and being forced to read out loud to an audience?  
  
Fangs read his lines well, considering he had to read them at a slight angle since your script was in between the two of you. He stumbled a bit over certain words, and he frowned at certain parts of what he was saying, but otherwise, he was doing fine.  
  
The third time he got confused by the wording of the script, you happened to glance up and see a pair of boys sitting a few rows ahead, staring at Fangs and snickering to themselves. Your eyes narrowed. When it was your turn to read again, you read as an actual actress might when playing Katharina, raising your voice and speaking with a venomous bite. Fangs, noticing your change, quickly adjusted and began reading with a slight accent, arrogant and mighty. Once he got into character, he had no problems. You still refused to stop staring at the boys whenever you weren't reading, until they turned around and stopped laughing.   
  
When the scene was over, you sank in your seat and stared out the window. That was more noticeable than anything you had done in ages.   
  
"Nice job," you heard Fangs say to you.   
  
You turned your head slightly. "You, too." You were pretty sure he hadn't noticed the two boys.   
  
At the end of class, Ms. Rogers called you over as you were leaving the room.   
  
"You were very good today, (Y/N). I was surprised; you're normally so quiet. You really tapped into the character." She smiled at you.   
  
You pulled on your sleeve. "I just wanted to help Fangs. I thought maybe he'd do better if he was reading with someone who was doing their best." You shrugged.   
  
"Well, it seemed to work. You both did a good job."   
  
You nodded. It wasn't really that big of a deal, you thought. You were just trying to help. Anyone decent would have done the same thing.   
  
You passed by Fangs later on your way to class. He gave you another salute and another wink, and you smiled.   
  


* * *

  
  
Math happened without any incidents, good or otherwise. You pointed out an error in one of Toni's equations and she nodded at you, but that was it.  
  
Biology was more interesting. Pierce switched up the class seating. You knew what to expect because Pierce, once again, pulled you aside to let you know you were going to be sitting next to Sweet Pea. As the professor explained it, you worked well with him yesterday and he needed "a good influence." You bit your tongue to keep from responding to that.  
  
The first thing you noticed when Sweet Pea sat next to you was the bruise on his arm in the shape of a hand. "What happened?"   
  
He looked down at his arm and then shrugged. "Mantle started a fight with Jones and one of the Bulldogs grabbed me when I tried to shove Mantle."   
  
"Why was there a fight?"  
  
"You ask a lot of questions," Sweet Pea noted irritably. You pulled on your sleeve, trying to avoid his angry eyes. You heard him sigh in annoyance and could practically feel his eye-roll. "Jones showed up in his Serpent jacket and Mantle tried to make him take it off. Jones said some shit about Mantle not knowing about honour. Mantle attacked and we pulled him off Jones and the Bulldogs pulled us off of him."  
  
"What happened?" You asked before you could stop yourself. Sweet Pea rolled his eyes again, leaning back and crossing his arms.  
  
"Jones got himself suspended 'cause he didn't want to take off the jacket. The rest of us got detention."  
  
You couldn't help but roll your eyes at this. He noticed. "What? Think we deserve it?"   
  
Secretly you thought that, since they had been fighting, they  _did_ deserve it, but you wouldn't say that. "I was just thinking that's such a  _Jughead_ thing to do."   
  
"You know him?"  
  
_It's a small town and he's been in my class since forever, and he's Jughead. _ "Yeah, sort of. We never spoke much, but he always struck me as someone who, like, wanted everyone to notice how much he didn't fit in. You know."  
  
Sweet Pea stared at you for a minute. You thought he was going to get angry again. He surprised you by suddenly grinning. "Yeah, that's him, alright. He's an idiot."   
  
You couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Are you going to put ice on that?" You asked, looking back at his bruised arm.   
  
"Nah, I'm used to bruises. It'll fade eventually."   
  
"You're sure?" Worry seeped into your tone without you meaning it to.   
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Believe me, I know more about injuries than you probably do." The heat was back in his voice and that made you flinch, but you had been able to get along for longer than last time. You had even made him smile. That was something, at least.  
  


* * *

  
Two days later you walked into English class and Fangs wasn't there. You asked Ms. Rogers where he was, and she said he had been suspended for two days. You asked her why and she said she didn't know, but asked if you would give his homework to one of his friends.   
  
In math, you were planning on asking Toni about it, but your question died when you saw what she was wearing. She was dressed in a blue polo shirt and khaki pants - the unofficially official uniform of Riverdale High. The look she gave you told you not to ask, so you didn't.   
  
Halfway through class, you passed her the worksheet Ms. Rogers had given you. "This is for Fangs. It's his English homework."  
  
She looked at you in confusion, but then she nodded in understanding. "Oh yeah, I forgot you two have the same class."  
  
You bit your tongue to refrain from telling her that you two were desk-mates and shared a script. "I heard he was suspended," you said with concern. "What happened? It wasn't because of the fight the other day, was it?"   
  
"Surprised you heard about the fight." She sighed. You kept yourself from asking why she was surprised because you knew the answer as soon as the question popped into your head. You were invisible. You were a background character. You had no business with the main characters of Riverdale High, and you had no business with their business. "No, he was suspended because he refused to wear..." she gestured to herself with a mocking smile, "this."   
  
You stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, you furrowed your brows. "That's it?"   
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Weatherbee pulled us in this morning and said he understood that us Southsiders may not have clothes that were appropriate, so he gave us these." She fingered her shirt collar. "Fangs didn't want to, so he was suspended."  
  
"What?" You repeated. "I don't- How does that even make sense?"  
  
"I don't know, you tell me," Toni said sharply. "It's because we're Southsiders. Your principal thinks that because we're Southside it's okay to treat us like scum. We're second class citizens here." She crossed her arms and turned to face the chalkboard, clearly done with the conversation.   
  
Your mind was spinning. You chewed your lip, beginning to form a plan.   
  
You didn't comment on Sweet Pea's outfit in bio, even though you wanted to laugh at the sight of him in a turtleneck with the sleeves rolled up underneath his polo shirt. He was radiating pure rage, every muscle in his body so tense you could see it through his layers. His fists were clenched so tight they were white and his eyes were so dark with fury they were practically black.   
  
You stayed silent for that class.   
  
After class, however, you spent a minute or two looking over Riverdale High's dress code on the school website. Once you had it mostly memorized you headed for Weatherbee's office.   
  
You walked in just as Weatherbee and Jughead were walking out.   
  
"Miss (L/N)," Weatherbee said in surprise.   
  
"I need to talk to you, sir," you said.  
  
Weatherbee nodded. "Alright. It seems that everyone needs to speak with me about something today." He patted Jughead on the shoulder. You noticed Jughead did not seem to appreciate it if his strained smile was anything to go by. "I just had Mister Jones here convince me to let Fangs Fogarty back into school, as well as form a club for himself and the other Southsiders."  
  
You looked at Jughead. He gave a 'Yep, nothing suspicious here' kind of smile, the kind that was just making a flat line with your mouth and giving a half-smile that wasn't really a smile.   
  
"Okay. Well, I wanted to talk to you about Fangs, too, but also about something else," you said. You were relieved that Fangs could come back and that you had one less thing to convince Weatherbee on. Jughead gave you a suspicious look, but you ignored it. "Do you have time?"  
  
Weatherbee nodded, let Jughead go, and allowed you into his office. You sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk and began speaking. You showed him the school's dress code. You described the outfits of the Southsiders that you had seen, taking care to point out how up until today, none of them had worn anything related to the Serpents or anything that broke the dress code. You pointed out how many of Riverdale High's students wore clothes that broke the dress code and how unfair it was for the Southsiders to be treated differently. You made sure to add that you understood he must have been under a lot of stress because of the new arrivals and everything else in the town, and that it was kind of him to give them clothes if they didn't have ones proper for the school, but that it was unfair to treat the Southsiders any differently from the Northsiders when the Southsiders hadn't done anything so far to deserve it, as well as punishing one of them for just refusing to wear clothing that he didn't need. When Weatherbee reminded you that the Serpents had defaced school property, you pointed out how there was no proof except the word of one student that they had actually done anything, and then added that there was a very small chance that any of them could have done it without anyone noticing. While you completely understood banning gang activity within the school, the treatment of the Southsiders by him was unfair and unjust, you concluded.  
  
Twenty minutes after arriving in his office, you left his office with him agreeing to reconsider the dress-coding of the Southsiders.  
  
The next day, the Southsiders arrived at school jacket-less, still covering up their tattoos, but in their usual leather, plaid, and denim, looking much happier.   
  
When you walked into English class, Fangs was grinning at you from your desk. You grinned back and asked him if he had finished the worksheet. You never once brought up his suspension or the repealing of the dress code. He casually mentioned both once but otherwise, the topics were avoided. The same went for your conversations with Toni and Sweet Pea later that day. 

* * *

  
  
Two weeks later, you arrived at English class and found that Fangs would finally get his own script in a day or two.  
  
You tried to feel good, to feel happy for him, even though you knew that this would be the end of your casual relationship with him. The original desk he had sat in was still empty most of the time (probably for fear of the day he got sick of sitting next to a Northsider and returned to his original seat), so he would probably go back to sitting there, and that would be the end of that. It bothered you more than you wanted to admit, but you didn't ask him to keep sitting next to you. He had no reason to. You'd miss your daily conversations with him and the commentary he'd give of the class and whatever you were reading. You would never admit this, but you would miss the feeling of being acknowledged by someone.   
  
You walked into class two days later, fully prepared to sit alone, and stopped in the doorway when you saw him sitting in his usual seat next to yours and flipping through his new script. When you took your own seat, still bewildered, he even proudly showed it off, grinning and saying you wouldn't have to share with him anymore. You grinned and gave a thumbs up, unable to think of anything to say in response.   
  
You forced yourself to not ask why he still wanted to sit next to you. He'd probably go back to his seat soon.  
  
But he didn't. Every day you walked in and saw him waiting for you, or he'd walk in and head straight for you. You didn't question it, afraid that if you asked him why he'd get offended. He didn't have a reason to sit with you. He must have just gotten used to sitting there.   
  
Over the weeks, eventually turning to months, a pattern emerged.   
  
You'd get to English. Fangs would join you or already be there. You'd chat for a while, share your Shakespeare if one of you forgot your copy, occasionally share another book if there weren't enough for everyone to have one, maybe chat for a minute after class, and then leave. You'd go to math and meet Toni. You'd chat with her, do some math, exchange help if either of you needed it, and leave math. You'd go to biology and meet Sweet Pea. He'd usually be in A  Mood™ , but you'd still try to make conversation. As time went on, you got better at making him relax, even if only a little bit for a little while, and while he still freaked you out a little bit (especially whenever he pulled out his knife for a dissection) you relaxed around him as well.   
  
Jughead was someone you had never interacted with much, even before his first transfer. You didn't interact with him much when he returned, as you had no classes with him and he was always wrapped up in schemes with his friends. When you did talk with him, however, you did your best to be nice to him even when he didn't seem to appreciate it. He always squinted at you, staring suspiciously, like he was trying to uncover some motive you held. You wondered if he remembered you going to Weatherbee about Fangs, and if he did, if he thought you had some dark secret reason for doing so. You were pretty sure he didn't know it was you who had gotten the dress code rescinded, but if he did, he never asked you about it.   
  
You didn't speak much to the other Southsiders, but when you did, you were kind. You gave them advice on certain teachers if you heard them complaining and the conversation was open enough that you could join it naturally. You did your best to distract people if they looked like they were going to give a Southsider a hard time (mentioning that a teacher was coming or blocking their way until the Southsider left the area). While it was rare at this point for anyone to need help finding something, you still pointed them in the right direction if they needed you to.  
  
But in the hallways, whenever you passed by them or any other serpent you had ever interacted with, their eyes always slid over you. Rarely you'd get an acknowledgment from any of them (Fang was the exception, and even he would rarely stop to talk for long; usually he would stick to nods or winks or mocking salutes, sometimes a smile or a 'Hi'). You were to them what you were to everyone else in your school - invisible. Not important enough to acknowledge. That was fine. You didn't expect friendship from any of them. You were class friends with them only, and even then you didn't consider yourself an actual friend to them. You were just acquaintances. Nothing special.   
  
Truth be told, you were pretty sure they didn't even remember your name. But that was fine; really, it was. You weren't doing anything special by being kind to them or sticking up for them.   
  


* * *

"It's an example of domestic abuse!" You shouted.   
  
"It's a romantic comedy, (Y/N), it isn't abuse," one of your male classmates, Greg, insisted.   
  
"First of all, romantic comedy is a horrible term to use for a Shakespearean play. Second, romantic comedies portray romanticized domestic abuse all the time! Third, the play is about taming a person! A woman! Taming a woman like you would-"   
  
"A shrew?" Someone interrupted. The class chuckled. You glared.   
  
"No, like a horse. Or a dog. Taming a woman like you would tame an animal. Petruchio even compares her to a dog or a horse while he's dragging her out of her own wedding! Katharina clearly stated she wanted to stay at her wedding party and he carries her away while she protests! He is ignoring her needs and wants because he thinks she has a bad attitude and he physically assaults her because of it! How does that foreshadow anything good for their married life?"   
  
"Katharina does have a bad attitude, (Y/N)," Ms. Rogers pointed out, grinning as the class debate carried on. "It can be argued that Petruchio is trying to teach her how to behave."   
  
"It's psychological abuse," you spat. "He's not teaching her to be more polite, he's training her to never go against what he says or he will either physically assault her or destroy whatever it is she wants. We see it in the dress scene, and with the food and when she wants to go to sleep. He deprives her of what she needs to live just to train her to be the perfect, subservient wife! Not to mention the gaslighting and the double standards between her and Petruchio's personalities-"   
  
The bell rang, cutting you off. You stopped talking, heart pounding in your chest and breathing hard. Ms. Rogers stood up, beaming proudly. "Wonderful contributions to the debate, everyone. There was a lot of interesting points brought up that I hope you'll remember for your essays."   
  
As people started filing out of the room, you leaned back in your chair, sighing deeply. Your face was hot with both righteous anger and embarrassment.  
  
You realized Fangs was still sitting, staring at you, his chin supported his hands, his elbows on the desk. You avoided eye contact.   
  
"That was new," he finally said. You pulled on your sleeve. "No, really, that was pretty awesome. I've never seen you so passionate."  
  
"Thanks," you mumbled, still tugging on your sleeve. "I just," you sighed, "I hate  seeing people be hurt." You wondered why you were telling him this. "I want to help people, somehow. If I can. Even if it's not - even if it isn't something huge. If I can make someone's life easier or better somehow, that's important to me."   
  
You felt your face grow warmer when you finished talking. Fangs was staring at you with such interest, it was so different from anything that happened in the halls or in any other classes. You couldn't remember the last time someone had given you their full attention.  
  
"What?" You asked.  
  
"Nothing." He smiled.   
  
"How's the musical going?" You asked, looking away and changing the topic.   
  
"It's going pretty well so far," Fangs said, gathering his stuff together. "Midge is a natural Carrie. Kevin's pretty cool, but I don't think he likes me for some reason."   
  
"Why wouldn't he like you?"   
  
"I drank his tea on the first day?"   
  
You laughed harder than you should have at that.   
  


* * *

  
  
Literally the  _one time_ you decided to go to a school event without being dragged along by someone else, and a student was killed by a serial killer who was supposed to be dead. Of course. What else was supposed to happen in a town like Riverdale, where anything with a semblance of being good was actually corrupted and evil?  
  
On top of that, it was the week your parents were both on a business trip, meaning you had to return to your empty house after seeing your classmate's dead body. You couldn't bring yourself to go to sleep, or even to go upstairs except to make sure all of the windows were locked, and even then you brought a French knife with you, holding it in front of you whenever you stepped into a room. Once securing every window and closing every door, you went downstairs and sat on your couch, watching YouTube videos with a knife and your phone, 911 already typed in, within arm's reach until the sun came up. Even the funniest videos couldn't make you laugh and every creak of the floorboards, every branch hitting the window, every single noise in or outside the house made you jump and nearly gave you a heart attack. You couldn't stop thinking about poor Midge, crucified on stage, and for what reason? What could she have done? What was so awful that deserved murder? The Black Hood had shot Fred Andrews, who was practically a saint. The killer clearly had a screwed up sense of morality.   
  
School was canceled the next day. You refused to leave your house. You called your parents to let them know what happened. They had panicked and immediately began planning to return home. When they called you back later they told you there was no way they could leave until after their conference was over, two weeks later, without losing their jobs. You sighed and told them it was fine, that you would lock the doors and windows every night, not be stupid and open the door to strangers or anyone, and would stay safe and walk with other people at all times.   
  
Sheriff Keller came by in the afternoon, explaining that he was going around to everyone who was at the musical. You answered his questions, stating that you had rarely talked to Midge and didn't have any reason to want her dead. Besides that, you had been in the library up until the time the musical started, and there had been plenty of people who had seen you there and had seen you leave, and you had gone straight to your seat upon arrival. When you answered all his questions, you hesitantly asked if he had any suspects. He shrugged helplessly. He looked exhausted. You offered him some tea or a snack, and he left your house with an apple and a thermos of tea that he promised to return later.   
  
The week that followed was awful. The energy that had returned to your town following the death of Svenson vanished into thin air, replaced by the fear and panic that had controlled Riverdale after the Black Hood had first appeared. Midge's funeral came and went; you had attended, hovering in the back, speaking quietly to nearly everyone in attendance and doing your best to comfort them however you could (Fangs and Sweet Pea had been there as well, but you had barely spoken to them except to acknowledge their presence, as Fangs looked distraught and Sweet Pea didn't know how to handle his emotions except by looking angry) (Moose and Mrs. Klump had been harder to talk to, but you had managed - Moose had even done his best to smile at you despite his grief, and Mrs. Klump accepted your offer to bring by one of your parent's pies by during the week). Keller was replaced by a new Sheriff, who came by and interrogated everyone again. You offered him some tea or a snack, and he rejected both.   
  
Fangs was constantly on edge in class, even more than Sweet Pea or Toni. You once asked him if he was alright, and he insisted he was. You put a hand on his shoulder and told him that if he needed anything, if you could help him at all, you were there. He had smiled and thanked you for that, but hadn't relaxed at all.   
  
A few days later, you found out why.   
  


* * *

You speed-walked through the halls, frantically looking for Fangs. You had overheard The Dark Circle's plans just minutes ago and you had to find him before they did. You nearly tripped down the stairs but you managed to catch yourself before you fell.   
  
It was only a five-second clip. Five seconds wasn't nearly enough to capture any actual proof. But five seconds of a dead girl and a gang member from the wrong side of town - that was enough for your awful town to pin all of the blame on Fangs. You knew you couldn't stop the Circle, they were mostly Bulldogs and were all probably stronger than you, but you could warn Fangs and give him time to get somewhere safe.   
  
You spotted him with Jughead and Toni, and Sheriff Minetta and some deputies standing right behind him.   
  
"You're dead, Vixen killer!" Reggie yelled, charging down the stairs and followed by a mob of Bulldogs.   
  
You frantically looked from Fangs to The Dark Circle. You made your choice. You dropped your bag to the floor and stood at the foot of the stairs, spreading your arms out and keeping them from going any further.  
  
"Get out of the way!" Reggie spat at you.  
  
"No!" You yelled back. "You don't know it was him!"   
  
Reggie looked down at you. You wondered if it was the first time he had ever actually looked at you. A second passed and then he pushed you out of the way, not hard enough to knock you down but enough to force you to move. His followers all brushed past you without a single glance. You ran around them, hoping to intercept them and keep them back.   
  
When you got to the front of the crowd, Fangs was pinned to the ground by the Sheriff and a pocket knife - the same kind Sweet Pea had, you noticed distantly - laid abandoned next to him.  
  


* * *

"This fucking town," you swore, though the trembling in your voice contradicted your angry words. "This  _goddamn motherfucking town_ ."   
  
You couldn't stop shaking. You had turned on the television to try and relax and had turned onto the channel that showed the mayoral debate. You turned it on just in time to hear gunshots and see Archie tackle his dad to the ground. You had watched the screen in horror until a camera was knocked over or something and the screen went fuzzy.   
  
Now you were pacing in your living room, running your hands through your hair, and trying to force back angry tears threatening to spill over.  
  
Your town was evil. You had always sort of known it.   
  
Your phone went off with a tweet. You checked it.   
  
'vixen killer fogarty is being released at midnight! show him and the sheriff we dont want killers walking free! #justiceformidge'   
  
You didn't even check to see who had tweeted it. All you knew is that it made your blood run cold.   
  
This town was evil.  
  
You ran to your front door, grabbed your jacket off the coat hanger and shoved your feet into your shoes. You dropped your phone into your pocket, snatched your keys off the table next to the door, and took off without a second thought.   
  


* * *

  
  
It was midnight when you finally reached the station. You nearly doubled over as you tried to catch your breath, your heart pounding and legs burning with pain. You had to keep going. You nearly tripped over your own feet but managed to catch yourself before you hit the ground.   
  
A huge crowd had formed around the station. You couldn't see a single space that wasn't mobbed with people, all of them waving signs with things like "justice for Midge" or "go back to the Southside swamp." Everyone was bathed in either darkness or blood red light, coming from who-knows-where, you didn't care. They were all out for blood, the blood of the same boy who confused  _affect_ and  _effect_ , the boy who had made hilarious commentary on William Shakespeare and everything else covered in your class, the boy who had sat next to you for no reason, the boy who had made you smile and laugh and had worried that Kevin hated him because he drank his tea and had said you were awesome for standing up for your beliefs and had made you feel seen for the first time in so long. He was your age, just a boy, and you thought that maybe, if he wanted to be, he could be your friend. You didn't care if he didn't know your name or if he didn't talk to you in the halls, or if none of his friends gave a shit about you, he didn't deserve this, any of this.   
  
He was innocent; you knew in your heart that he was.   
  
You watched as he, in the center of his friends, walked out of the station and into the crowd of people screaming for his blood. The Serpents were protecting him. They were shielding him and they were going to get him somewhere safe.   
  
You looked around. What could you possibly do? You couldn't scream that a teacher was coming. You couldn't stand in front of them and hold them all back. Anything you yelled would be drowned out by the crowd. You would just be shoved out of the way, just like Reggie had before. Fangs had his friends, he didn't need you. You couldn't do anything.   
  
You hovered at the edge of the crowd, your breathing slowly increasing and tears stinging in your eyes. The one time it actually mattered and you couldn't do anything. Typical.   
  
Someone suddenly shoved you. You yelped and turned to glare at whoever it had been, but they had disappeared into the crowd. You huffed angrily and pulled on your sleeves as you continued to look over the crowd. Another person knocked into you, and another, and another. Despite your attempts to pull out, you were slowly being assimilated into the mob. You yelled at them to stop but you were ignored (like always). Another person bumped into you, and as you ducked to avoid being hit with the post of someone's sign, your eyes caught a flash of silver.   
  
It was only by chance and only for a second and you hadn't seen who held it but you knew what you had seen.   
  
Someone was carrying a gun.   
  
You felt your breath catch in your throat. Your mouth fell open slightly. You looked over to the split in the mob where Fangs was. Somehow every sound had faded away except for your own heartbeat.   
  
Without a moment of hesitation, you started shoving people out of your way, for once not caring if anyone got hurt. You had to get to Fangs. You hadn't seen who carried the gun but you knew who it was for. You couldn't stop them but you could do something.   
  
People blocking your path fell victim to your rush of adrenaline-driven strength. You kept your eyes on the Serpents, thanking God for Sweet Pea's height because he was the only way you could really tell which way to go in all of the confusion. You had to reach them in time. You were pretty sure you had elbowed someone in the face, but it paid off when you shoved one person out of the way and finally reached the front of the mob.   
  
Your eyes zeroed in on Fangs. Sweet Pea was blocking your path to him and you were one hundred percent sure you wouldn't be able to get him out of the way.   
  
You sort of noticed Reggie Mantle being tackled to the ground by Archie Andrews on the other side of the mob. The shield around Fangs broke apart and you were given your chance.   
  
You darted forward. You heard Sweet Pea yell something as you appeared in front of him. You briefly made eye contact with Fangs - he looked so afraid and confused - before you grabbed his shoulder and pushed him as hard as you could. He staggered back and you stepped in front of him.   
  
A gunshot went off. You heard a woman scream.   
  
You looked over at Fangs, who had spread his arms over his friends when the shot went off. You examined him quickly. He looked fine. You sighed in relief. He was safe.   
  
You felt a sting in your stomach. You frowned slightly before you looked down at yourself. Maybe someone in the crowd had elbowed you in the stomach or something.   
  
A dark red stain had appeared on your shirt.  
  
You stared at the stain as it continued to grow. It was wet. You raised your hands to touch it. Your hands turned red. You felt a tear in your jacket and could feel a hole in your skin underneath. Red liquid - blood, you realized faintly - trickled from the hole.  
  
Oh.   
  
You staggered.   
  
_Oh._  
  
You felt hands supporting you, holding your arms and pressing against your shoulders and back. Someone pulled your jacket open. Your legs gave out. Someone caught you before you collapsed and eased you towards the ground, laying you down on your back. You were still holding your injury, but someone pushed your hands out of the way. You looked down at your hands and stared. They were covered in red. It was blood. It was  _your_ blood.  
  
_It doesn't hurt,_ you realized distantly.  _Why doesn't it hurt?_  
  
You blinked and noticed there were people above you - the Serpents. They were all kneeling on the ground around you, all pressing their hands against your wound. They were putting pressure on it. They were trying to help you. They didn't know your name and they were trying to help you.  
  
Something was cushioning your head. You looked up and Fangs was there, looking down at you with panic and fear in his eyes. Your head was in his lap. He was saying something you couldn't hear; the gunshot was still ringing in your ears.   
  
Slowly, the ringing faded. People were screaming around you. You heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and something hitting the ground. Jughead was yelling for help. Was someone hurt? You had to help them. You tried to sit up but Fangs put his hands on your shoulders and forced you back to the ground and you didn't want to fight him.  
  
"-st stay calm, alright? You're gonna be okay, I promise. We're gonna get you to the hospital and you'll be fine! Stay awake okay?"  
  
Fangs was yelling at you. He was telling you that you were going to be okay.   
  
"Fuck, there's so much blood-"   
  
"-keep putting pressure on it!"   
  
"-get her to the truck, we need to go to the hospital-"   
  
"-I'll do it, I got her-  _back off, Jones!"_   
  
"-Jesus  _fucking_ Christ _-_ "   
  
You felt yourself being lifted off the ground. You blinked - your vision was going fuzzy but you were sure Fangs was carrying you. That was nice of him.   
  
You could hear more hitting and yelling, but it all seemed so far away. You heard someone - Sweet Pea? - yell "Get out of our way!" Before you realized what was happening you were being laid down on what seemed to be the back of a truck. You felt the vehicle jostle underneath you, heard someone muttering swear words, and then your head was lifted up and placed on something that was not the cold, hard metal of a truck. Someone was pressing on your wound again and you hissed as the pain finally hit you.   
  
"Fuck, I'm sorry, I know it hurts, I'm sorry-" Fangs rambled. You realized he had once again placed your head on his lap. You looked back towards your wound and saw Jughead kneeling at your side, putting pressure on your injury, while Fangs used one hand to do the same and the other to keep your body steady as the truck started moving.   
  
"The hospital is gonna be filled by the time we get there," Jughead said in a low voice.  
  
"Well, they're going to take care of her anyway!" Fangs snapped. "Hey, you're gonna be okay, (Y/N), I  _promise_ ."   
  
You were starting to feel dizzy, but you managed to cling onto one thing he had said. "You know my name," you said softly.   
  
You heard Jughead say, "What?" before you heard Fangs say, "Of course I know your name, (Y/N), I spent months sitting next to you, why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Because I'm not important." The fears you had kept to yourself for so long suddenly slipped out without your permission. "I'm not special enough to remember, nobody really pays any attention to me. Not even you, you never stop to talk to me outside of class, but I get it, I'm not your friend and you don't have any reason to talk to me, so it's okay, really. I'm not special, not like you, not like your friends, I'm not important, so it's okay that you and your friends don't know my name, I don't mind, really, I just wanted to help you, but that doesn't matter. I'm glad you're okay. I'm really glad that I could save you, I'm glad that I could help you somehow, but it's not important. I'm not important, not really, so I don't know why you would remember my name."  
  
You stopped rambling and blinked. The edges of your vision were going black and fuzzy.   
  
"-t true, (Y/N), that isn't true - hey, don't go to sleep, you have to stay awake!  _Fucking go faster!_ "  
  
"What is she talking about?"   
  
"I don't know, fuck, I don't know-"  
  
"We're here!"  
  
You were dimly aware of being pulled off the back of the truck and Fangs carrying you again. Your stomach was so wet and you couldn't smell anything but blood,  _your_ blood. Suddenly everything was bright white and you could hear someone yelling for help.   
  
"She's dying!"  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"She was shot in her stomach!"  
  
"I need a gurney!" You were being lowered down onto something. You instinctively reached out to grab onto something and felt someone's hand. Whoever it was held your hand for a second (you felt rings, cold but covered in warm liquid, your blood) before you were being moved again. People were speaking above you, asking you questions, but you couldn't answer any of them. You felt so tired.  
  
The black at the edge of your vision passed over and you were in the dark, unaware of anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did my best to make this story as inclusive as possible and I checked it several times, but if anyone notices something about how I wrote "Y/N" and her physical traits that bothers them, feel free to let me know. 
> 
> The title is a combination of Ruelle's "Hero" and Banners' "Someone to You".
> 
> I've been working on this for a very long time so if you could leave a review it would mean a lot. Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

Fangs had only been able to hold onto her hand for a moment before (Y/N) was being wheeled away from him on a gurney, covered in her blood because of a bullet she had taken for him. Her blood was all over his hands and his shirt and staining the skin underneath.

All of that blood because of a bullet she had taken for him _when she thought he didn't even know her name._

He stared after her as she disappeared behind the doors to the surgical room. He felt FP clap him on the back, heard him say something, but he couldn’t make out what FP had said.

"Fangs," Jughead said.

Fangs tore his gaze away from the double doors. "What?"

"What happened back there?" FP demanded. "At the station - did she trip, or-"

"No," Fangs interrupted, his head spinning. He ran through the moment in his mind - Andrews had knocked Mantle to the ground and a gun had hit the ground; the shield the Serpents had set up around him had broken and he had been exposed; then (Y/N) was there, a determined and terrified look in her eyes, and she had shoved him out of the way just before a gunshot rang out. She hadn't tripped. She had pushed him out of the way and put herself in the line of fire for the sake of someone she thought didn't remember her.

"She pushed me," he said finally. "She pushed me back and put herself where I had been standing. She let herself get shot for me. Jughead, she thought I didn't-"

"I know, I heard," Jughead interrupted, removing his hat to run his hand through his hair. He looked paler than usual.

"But I don't- why would she think that?" Fangs remembered what she had said - that he never spoke to her outside of class, but that she "got it," she understood she wasn't his friend, she didn't think she was special enough to remember. It was true he rarely stopped her in the halls when he saw her, but he always at least said "hey" or nodded or winked, and she had always smiled in return. _But that wasn't enough_ , he was realizing that now, it wasn't _nearly_ enough for her to know that he _did_ remember her name, that he _did_ remember her.

Did she even know how much he appreciated her offering to share her script with him when he had first arrived at Riverdale High? No one else had wanted to even look at him and some part of him had been expecting that, but it had still stung. And then (Y/N) had offered to help him out and had helped him with any problems he had after that. Had he even said thank you? He couldn't remember.

He couldn't stop remembering what she had said. She didn't think she was important, she didn't think she was special, she didn't think that any of them would think twice about her - that _he_ would think twice about her, she didn't know why he or any of them would remember her name. That could have been him bleeding out on the street, being wheeled away by the doctors, but it wasn't, because (Y/N) had saved his life.

"I don't know," Jughead said, shrugging helplessly. "I never really knew her that well."

Fangs didn't care about that. "She could die because of me, Jughead - that could have been me. She saved my life but she might die for me even though she thought that I didn't- that I-" He had to stop himself from saying anything else because the lump in his throat was making it difficult to talk.

"Hey, hey, hey," FP interrupted, gripping Fangs' shoulder tightly. "The girl - (Y/N), right?" Fangs nodded. "(Y/N) made her choice, and it was a goddamn brave choice she made. It was a choice most people wouldn't make for someone like us. We're not going to beat ourselves up over what was, we just gotta take care of what comes next, alright?"

Jughead mumbled "Got it," while Fangs just nodded, unable to look his leader in the eyes.

"Starting now, (Y/N) is an honorary Serpent," FP stated, and neither Jughead nor Fangs could disagree with him. "So we're gonna stay with her, at least until we can get her family here."

 _Goddamn,_ Fangs thought, _if Jones's girl is an honorary Serpent just for doing the dance, (Y/N) has to be at least fifty times more Serpent than her._

Fangs noticed Jughead giving him a look. "What?" He demanded, wiping his eyes.

"Should you be here?" Upon seeing Fangs' enraged expression, Jughead quickly continued to say, "People are rioting, and most people who end up in here are not going to like seeing you here. Things could go badly very quickly."

"I don't care," Fangs said heatedly. "They can call the sheriff and try to lock me up again, but I'm not leaving here unless they drag me out."

"And the shooter?" Jughead asked, turning to his dad now. "What do we do about him?"

"We'll deal with that later," FP said. "Right now, we just have to wait for news."

The three Serpents sat down in the waiting room - already filled with other people who were already glaring at Fangs. Fangs glared right back and they looked away. He pulled up his jacket collar to keep out the cold hospital air and settled in. It was going to be a long night, but he was not going anywhere.

(Y/N) had stuck by him; not just him, either, but also Toni, who once casually mentioned her kind desk-mate in her math class who helped her when she needed it, and Sweet Pea, who told him once that (Y/N) was 'okay' for keeping his knife a secret. That was one of the things he liked about her. She helped people even in the smallest of ways.

Now he finally could return the favor.

* * *

It had been almost an hour since they had arrived and (Y/N) was still in surgery. Fangs had long since given up on his defensive position in his chair (leaned back, legs out in front of him, arms crossed) and was now leaning forward, elbows on his knees and his hands together, pressed firmly to his mouth, and his legs tucked under his chair. He had long since washed (Y/N)'s blood off his hands but he could still feel it there and he could still smell the coppery scent. He was bouncing his right leg up and down so much that Jughead had moved his chair away. FP was trying to get ahold of the rest of the Serpents but so far, only a few had answered. Toni wasn't answering and neither was Sweet Pea. Most of the few they had gotten ahold of were the younger ones who had taken off for the Wyrm after Fangs and the Jones' had left for the hospital.

Even harder to find were (Y/N)'s parents. Fangs remembered her mentioning they were on a business trip the week of the musical as well as the following week. The receptionists were so swamped with taking note of every person coming in or out of the hospital that Fangs couldn't be sure if (Y/N)'s parents even knew if their daughter had been shot yet.

There was nothing any of them could do except sit and wait for news.

There was nothing Fangs could do but sit and keep going over (Y/N)'s words in his mind.

_Not important? Not special? She thinks she isn't important? She thinks she isn't special enough for anyone to remember? She thought I didn't remember her name, she thinks nobody remembers her name, she thought I didn't remember her. After four months of sitting next to her, she thought I wouldn't at least know her name? I should have talked to her more, should have made an effort to get to know her more, should have stopped her in the halls and talked, should have said her name more- fuck, did I ever say her name to her face? And how much did I acknowledge her outside of class? Not enough, not nearly enough, not enough to convince her she's special- and she saved my life anyway, she could die for me on that table and it'll be because of me and she could die thinking I didn't care- did she want to die? Is that why she did it even though she thought I didn't care? She made the past four months better just by being nice to me, she helped me out when she didn't have to, god, she even hid Sweet Pea's knife from the teacher! Who else would do that?! And she-_

Fangs' rambling thought process was halted when FP put his hand on his shoulder. "According to the Serpents, most people think that one of us shoved the girl-"

"(Y/N)," Fangs interrupted with a bite in his voice. "Her name is (Y/N)."

FP nodded, not looking offended by Fangs snapping at him. "They think one of us shoved (Y/N) in front of you. Even the Serpents think she just tripped in front of you."

"She didn't," Fangs insisted.

"I know that, and so do you, but we're gonna have to convince a lot of people of that." He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "And if she doesn't make it, it'll be even worse since she won't be able to tell anyone why she did it. Hell, this is a mess..."

Fangs flinched at that.

FP's hand on his shoulder tightened. "Eyes down, boy," he muttered. Fangs glanced up and then immediately looked back down. Sheriff Minetta had just walked in.

FP and Jughead both stood up to confront the sheriff while Fangs stayed in his seat. He heard the sheriff ask to speak to (Y/N) when she woke up and Jughead and FP question him for it. He looked up long enough to see Minetta staring right at him, judgment in his eyes. Minetta blamed him for (Y/N) getting shot.

 _Well, he better get in line,_ Fangs thought bitterly.

The next time he looked up, Jughead was gone, FP was looking for his son, and Minetta was talking to one of the nurses.

Another nurse came by - Fangs stood up and asked her how (Y/N) was doing. The nurse said she was still in surgery, which was the answer he had been expecting but still made him feel worse. He asked if her parents knew about her, and the nurse said they had been told and according to them, they would be on a plane back to Riverdale within the next two hours. That was something, he supposed.

He returned to sitting, going back and forth between twisting his rings and fiddling with his dog tags. He ran his hands through his hair more times than he could count. Occasionally he checked his phone just to see if any of his friends had tried to contact him.

In the next half hour, FP had left as well, claiming Fred Andrews and Keller needed his help with something. He had clapped Fangs on the shoulder, told him to stay strong, and disappeared. Minetta left shortly afterward. Fangs overheard him muttering something about having more important things to do than wait for a dying girl to wake up. Fangs felt the strong urge to stand and punch the man in the face but managed to force it back down. He couldn't afford to get arrested again, not when (Y/N) still needed someone there for her when she woke up.

If she woke up, his mind reminded himself before he could push that thought back down.

His phone lit up and when he looked down, Sweet Pea's name and his angry contact photo were staring up at him. Fangs glanced at the people around him (everyone had chosen seats as far away from the Serpents as possible) before he accepted the call.

"What's wrong?"

"How's the girl?" Sweet Pea asked.

"Her name is (Y/N)," Fangs repeated for the second time that night, just as forcefully as he had with FP, "and she's still in surgery."

"I'm guessing you're not coming back anytime soon." Sweet Pea didn't sound angry about it, more resigned. It still angered Fangs.

"Dude, she got shot for me, I can't leave her alone - her parents still aren't here and probably won't be for a while, FP just took off, Jones just took off-"

"Jones is here, at the Wyrm," Sweet Pea interrupted. "He came and got all of us rounded up before we could do anything else."

"What did you do?"

"You nearly got shot! We couldn't take that lying down! We just threw some stuff around, it's everyone else who's acting insane!"

"But I didn't - because (Y/N)-" he almost couldn't say her name, the lump in his throat coming back. He groaned and pushed the heel of his hand into his eye.

"Why'd she do that, anyway?" Sweet Pea demanded, his voice softening. "She doesn't even know us."

"Sweet Pea, she's been your bio partner and has sat next to you for the past four fucking months. She's been Toni's math partner just as long. She and I have been working together in English since our first day at Riverdale. She knows us," Fangs snapped.

"But she isn't one of us, why would she risk her life for us?"

Fangs recalled what she had said to him just a few days before the musical, just a few days before everything had gone to hell.

_I want to help people, somehow._

"She just wanted to help us. She wants to help people without anything in return. Pea, she thought I didn't remember her _name_ and she still risked her life for me."

_I'm not special, not like your friends-_

Sweet Pea was silent for a moment. "Do you want me to come over there?"

Truthfully, yes, he did, he didn't want to be alone in a building full of people who hated him, but he knew better than to say that. There was a riot going on. "No, stay at the Wyrm, it's too dangerous." Fangs sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Keep me updated."

"Got it."

* * *

An hour later, the riot was still going, Sweet Pea had called to inform him that Toni had been captured by and then rescued from Penny Peabody and the Ghoulies, and (Y/N)'s parents arrived.

Fangs knew who they were because they rushed into the hospital, suitcases in hand, and ran up to the front desk demanding to know where their daughter was. Fangs had thought they wouldn't arrive until later, but there they were.

The parents of the girl who had gotten shot ( _and could die)_ for him were standing less than twenty feet away from him.

(Y/N)'s mother was nearly shouting, asking questions faster than the nurse at the desk could answer them, while her father was clearly on the verge of tears, holding his wife's shoulders like he was trying to stay standing instead of holding her back. His wife, Fangs noticed, kept one hand on her husband's while waving and pointing her free hand in every direction.

Fangs kept twisting his rings, glancing down at his hands and then back up at the (L/N)'s every few seconds. Should he stay silent and hope to go unnoticed and hopefully catch some information the doctor would give to them? Introduce himself at a later date when things had calmed down some? Or should he stand and introduce himself now? _'Hey, I'm Fangs, I'm the reason your daughter may die.'_ That wouldn't go over well, and if they attacked him, he doubted anybody would try to stop them - there were still other people waiting who were giving him dirty looks.

But Serpent law stated that families would be cared for in the case of death, and Fangs was pretty sure that the law covered the injured as well as the dead. If nothing else, he could give them the information they needed.

Sighing and steeling himself for the worst, he stood up.

It occurred to him for the first time that his shirt was still covered in (Y/N)'s blood. At least he had washed his hands. He looked down at his rings to ensure that there wasn't any blood on them - luckily, there was not.

He held his breath and approached (Y/N)'s parents.

(Y/N)'s mother had stopped yelling as much but her voice was still raised. Fangs remembered only two weeks ago - it felt like ages ago, now - when (Y/N) had yelled in front of their entire class about the injustice of Taming of the Shrew. He could see the resemblance.

"Excuse me," he said when he had reached them. They both turned around and looked at him with expressions of anger (her mother) and confusion (her father). "You're (Y/N)'s parents, right?"

"Yes," her mother said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "Who are you? Do you know my daughter?"

Fangs flinched. "I - I'm a classmate of hers, we're in English together, I was there when the - when it happened."

Her father stared at him. "Are you Fangs?" He said, speaking for the first time in a watery voice.

Shit, they already knew him. "Yeah. Fangs Fogarty. I-"

"You're the Fangs from English class?" Her mother interrupted. "The one who was arrested?"

"Yeah, I-"

"And you were there when it happened?" Her mother continued, looking at him with a half-stare, half-glare. "Are you the one who-" her voice broke and she stopped for a second before continuing. "The one who got her here?"

He hesitated. "Yes," he said finally.

Suddenly, (Y/N)'s father had engulfed him in a tight embrace. Fangs, initially taken by surprise, hugged back, not knowing what else to do and thinking that the poor man deserved it.

If possible, Fangs felt even worse.

Once the hugging had stopped, (Y/N)'s parents insisted that Fangs join them while they all waited. Not knowing how he could refuse, he sat down in his seat with them sitting across from him. It felt like an interrogation as they asked him how the shooting could have possibly happened, and Fangs was forced to tell them everything that had happened.

"I swear, I didn't know she was even there, I didn't know she would do that," he nearly pleaded with them as he reached the end of the story. They were just staring at him and he couldn't tell if they were about to hit him or yell at him or start crying again.

The answer was neither. (Y/N)'s father stood and walked away, running his hand over his face and muttering something Fangs couldn't make out. (Y/N)'s mother stayed in her seat, pulling on the sleeves of her jacket just like Fangs had seen (Y/N) do so many times.

"I'm sorry," Fangs whispered.

(Y/M/N) shook her head and looked up at him. "(Y/N) thought you were worth saving; I can't blame you for that." She laughed softly. "She always wanted to help people..."

Fangs would have said something more - _what_ exactly, he didn't know - but his phone vibrated. It was Sweet Pea again. He glanced at (Y/M/N) before he stood up and headed to a secluded corner of the room to answer. "Any good news?"

"Things have gone to _shit_ , Fangs!"

The agitation in Sweet Pea's voice told him that things were far worse than they had been an hour ago. "What's happened?" he demanded.

"We voted to fight the Ghoulies and Jughead disappeared, then Betty called to tell FP that he called to tell her goodbye - _shut up I'm talking to Fangs!_ \- and FP just walked out of the woods carrying Jughead's body, he's been beaten up bad and his tattoo's been sliced off-"

"Penny." Fangs felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He leaned against the wall. "Is Jughead- is he?"

"He's alive, _barely_ , the ambulance just took him and we're on our way to the hospital now." He heard Sweet Pea exhale on the other end and could imagine his best friend pinching the bridge of his nose. "Jesus fucking _Christ_. We'll see you when we get there."

"Yeah, alright," Fangs said numbly. Sweet Pea hung up on him and the next thing he knew, he was back in his chair, slumped over and his head in his hands.

 _How has everything managed to go so wrong?_ It hadn't even been an entire night yet. it was only about three-thirty in the morning, and yet it felt like years had gone by in the past couple of hours.

Jughead and everyone else came in about twenty minutes later. Jughead was brought in on a gurney, so beat up and bloodied that Fangs couldn't even be sure it was him at first until FP followed a few seconds later. Fangs stood up when his and Jughead's friends burst in. Sweet Pea and Toni headed straight for him and then the three were hugging each other tightly, Fangs sighing in relief that his two best friends were safe.

The next minutes were a rush of activity that Fangs couldn't process after spending the last couple of hours doing nothing but wait. Betty was crying, Andrews was pacing, FP, who had been forced to join them in the waiting room, was pacing right alongside him, Sweet Pea and Toni and Cheryl (they explained why Cheryl was there but he couldn't remember, everything happened so quickly) were all speaking over each other, trying to make sense of what had happened or (in Sweet Pea's case) promising death and violence to the Ghoulies. Fangs lost track of (Y/N)'s parents until he spotted them sitting in the next aisle over. They caught his eye and smiled supportively. Fangs felt even worse.

Jughead's doctor and (Y/N)'s doctor came out at the same time. Jughead was going to be fine - he was sleeping and would wake up in the next day or two. FP and Andrews collapsed into chairs at the same moment. Betty kept crying, this time in relief. Sweet Pea slapped Fangs on the back and Fangs punched him in the arm. Cheryl and Toni hugged each other.

Fangs ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply in relief. He glanced over at (Y/N)'s parents. They weren't crying and they were hugging each other, which he supposed could have been a good sign, but his stomach twisted in knots all the same. He glanced at his group, wondering if he could leave and join the (L/N)'s without anyone noticing.

He was still wondering this when he heard FP say, "We're gonna give them hell."

"Fangs, you're in, right?" FP asked when Fangs looked back at him. "Fighting the Ghoulies. Tonight."

Fangs glanced over at the (L/N)'s. "I-"

"You're in," Sweet Pea interrupted. Fangs looked at his best friend. Sweet Pea was staring at him. "You've gotta be in."

"(Y/N) is-"

"Her parents are here," Sweet Pea said, gesturing to the couple Fangs had been looking at. "That's them, right? They're here for her. She'll be fine without you."

"Let the boy make his decision," FP insisted, but he was still staring at Fangs expectantly, his eyes burning with rage and a need for vengeance. Fangs knew what he wanted. FP might have named (Y/N) an honorary Serpent, but now that his son was the one hurt, nothing else mattered.

Fangs looked at (Y/N)'s parents and then at his friends. "Just give me a second."

When he reached them, (Y/N)'s parents turned to him and (Y/F/N) said, "The surgery went well, she's breathing on her own, she's just unconscious. She's going to be-" he cut himself off to wipe away the tears in the corner of his eye. "She's going to be fine."

An overwhelming sense of relief hit Fangs like a truck. He put his hand to his forehead, feeling lightheaded all of a sudden, and his shoulders slumped as the weight that had been lying on him all night was lifted off.

"Oh, fuck - thank god," he mumbled, exhaling deeply. She was going to be fine. She wasn't going to die. _(Y/N) was going to be fine._

"And your friend?" (Y/M/N) asked him. "Is he going to be alright?"

Fangs nodded. "Yeah, he was just..." he trailed off, not sure if he should tell them the truth. They were (Y/N)'s parents, sure, but they weren't Serpents, and they didn't need to know Serpent business. "He ran into some angry rioters," he said finally. "But he's going to be alright, after a while."

 _This is too much luck,_ Fangs thought grimly. Jughead and (Y/N) were going to be fine. It was too good to be true. _It has to turn against us at some point._

He could only hope it wouldn't turn against them during the fight with the Ghoulies.

"Fangs!" he heard FP yell. He looked over his shoulder to see the Serpents watching him expectantly, waiting for him to come back to them and join the fight.

His stomach twisted again. He couldn't just leave (Y/N), not after he had promised himself he'd be there when she woke up. If she woke up and he wasn't there, it would probably make her feel even worse about herself. She had gotten shot for him, had nearly died for him (he almost wanted to cry in relief that he could finally say ' _had nearly_ died' instead of ' _could still_ die'), he couldn't just leave her to fight the Ghoulies.

But the Serpents needed him and they were his gang. His family.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he looked to see who had done so, it was (Y/F/N). The (L/N)'s were both looking at him with understanding in their eyes.

"Go on," (Y/M/N) said with a sigh. "Your friends need you.”

Fangs hesitated. They were fine with him leaving. If they had wanted him to stay, he would have stayed, but if they were okay with him leaving them...

He glanced back. They were still waiting for him. They had supported him through the whole mess with Midge and everything that had come before that.

(Y/N) had her parents and he could just come back as soon as possible, and she wasn't even awake yet...

The Serpents needed him _now_.

"Tell (Y/N) I was here," he said finally. "And tell her I'll come to visit, okay?"

They nodded and promised they would tell their daughter that he had waited and would come, and Fangs jogged back to his group. "I'm in."

Sweet Pea grinned proudly while FP nodded as though he hadn't expected any less. Toni gave him a concerned look and asked if (Y/N) was going to be alright. Fangs nodded but didn't explain further, and Toni seemed alright with that.

As the Serpents left the hospital, Sweet Pea slung one arm over his shoulders.

"She's gonna be fine, man," he said seriously. "You said so yourself. We can come to visit her later, it's gonna be fine."

Sweet Pea didn't get it. None of them, except for Jughead, got it. None of them had been there, had heard the self-deprecation that had come out of (Y/N)'s mouth. None of them had heard (Y/N) say she didn't think she was important compared to him or his friends. Hell, wasn't he proving that himself, leaving her and justifying it by saying she'd be fine? He knew the fight was important, that if he missed it and someone got hurt or worse, he would never forgive himself; but he wasn't sure if he could forgive himself if leaving proved to (Y/N) that he didn't care about her.

He'd come back as soon as he could. He'd make things right.

Fangs glanced back, exhaled, and made a quick prayer that he'd be able to come back.


	3. Chapter 3

You should have been happy. Not right away, of course, because you were half-conscious, your parents were crying all the time, nurses and your doctor were constantly coming in and out of your room to check on you and your stitches, and there was so much pain just simmering beneath your pain-medicated surface, but you should have been happy. 

You hadn't died, for one thing. That was certainly something to celebrate. Your parents were home, for another. You had worried about them missing the rest of their conference but they had assured you that it didn't matter, not as much as you did, and that certainly helped (even if their constant crying whenever they looked at you did not). You had a nice hospital room, with flowers and a few "Get well soon!" cards from people from school and a few of the close acquaintances you had. Being in a hospital wasn't pleasant under any circumstances, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The Black Hood had been caught ( _Poor Betty,_ you thought), and so had the person who had shot you (you almost felt sorry for Mrs. Klump, but you weren't quite ready for that yet). 

You had saved someone's life. That was good. 

You should have been happy. 

But you had been fully conscious for almost three days and Fangs hadn't come to see you. 

Your parents had said one of his friends had been hurt badly - Jughead, you guessed after hearing their descriptions of the people who had waited with Fangs, and you reminded yourself to find out how he was doing as soon as you got out of the hospital - and he had left with his friends shortly after hearing that his friend would be okay. 

Your parents added that Fangs had needed their approval and assurance that you would be okay before he had left. He had told them to tell you that he had waited (an entire four hours and thirty minutes sitting in the hospital, for _you_ ) and would come back to visit. He hadn't said when, and your parents had said something seemed to be going down, so he must have had good reasons for not coming to see you. 

You tried to tell yourself that. You tried to convince yourself of that. Logically, that was the reason. It was completely self-centred to think otherwise, to think that it could have been because of any other reason.

It would have been a lot easier to convince yourself of that if you hadn't remembered everything you had said to him. 

You had told him. You had told him _everything_. You had told him everything you had never wanted to tell anyone, everything you had sworn to never say - every fear and insecurity you had been squashing down for several months or longer, you had told him. 

Even worse than that, you had told him your fears about him and how he saw you. You had been bleeding out all over him and you had told him you didn't think he remembered your name. 

You didn't think you could have said anything worse than that.

There was a _reason_ you had never asked Fangs why he always sat with you, even after he didn't need to anymore. You hadn't wanted to drive him away with your neediness. You hadn't wanted him to realize how much you enjoyed his attention, no matter how minimal it was, how much it meant to you even though you didn't know _why_ he was giving it to you. You hadn't wanted him to realize how pathetic you were.

Now, he knew. If he had liked you, he had to have seen how ridiculous you were after hearing everything you had said. If he hadn't cared, you had pushed him even further away. 

So while logically he probably hadn't come to visit because he had more important things to worry about, you couldn't help but think that he hadn't come to visit because he didn't care about you. 

And that was... fine. It was fine. You had expected him to forget about you sooner or later, anyway. It was kind of a dick move to do so after you had saved his life (even if you had done so without expecting anything in return), but it was just what it was. You had only wanted to help him, him and the other Serpents; that was all you had ever wanted. 

So it was fine. It was fine that he had said he would come back and that he hadn't. That he wouldn't. You hadn't expected him to, so it didn't matter.

You had not expected him to come to see you in the hospital. Truly, you hadn't. So it was fine. 

You gazed out your hospital window, out across your town. You had an excellent view from your room, overlooking the entire town. It was a beautiful day outside - no one could have guessed it was the scene of a riot just a few nights prior. 

It was a beautiful day outside, and you couldn't even experience it for yourself because you were stuck in the hospital because you had taken a bullet for a boy who hadn't even come to see you. 

A lump rose in your throat. Your mouth went dry. Tears welled up in your eyes. You put your hand to your face, covering your eyes, and you forced yourself to take several deep breaths, for once grateful that you were alone. 

You forced yourself to admit it: you had expected Fangs to come to see you. You wanted him to. You wanted him to come and see how you were doing, to talk to you, make a stupid joke like the ones he made in English class. You wanted him to assure you that he remembered and appreciated your help, thank you for saving his life, maybe even come back more than once. You wanted him to tell you that you mattered, that you were important, or important enough for him to remember at least. You wanted him to acknowledge the risk you had taken and thank you for it. 

But he hadn't, and he probably wasn't going to. Because even if he remembered your name, even if you had saved his life, that didn't mean he had to care about you.

You just had to accept that.

* * *

Fangs was pretty sure he was the worst person to ever walk the face of the earth. That might have been an overstatement, but he certainly felt like it was true. The fact that there was an easy way to stop feeling that way made everything much worse. 

As it turned out, however, going to the hospital to meet the girl who had saved your life and then confessed, in a blood loss induced haze, that she didn't think you cared about her or remembered her name to thank her and tell her that her fears were untrue was a lot harder to do than he had previously thought. 

That wasn't the entire reason he hadn't done it, of course. The fight with the Ghoulies had left the Serpents scrambling to regain their footing and find new places to live, and on top of that, Jughead was still recovering and FP had abandoned them. A lot of Serpents had fled to the Ghoulies or out of Riverdale altogether. There were many things Fangs had had to deal with over the past few days that hadn't left him time or energy to go visit (Y/N). That didn't mean his stomach didn't twist up in guilt every time he thought about (Y/N), lying in the hospital and probably wondering why he hadn't come to see her yet. 

He had tried, of course, but something always came up, or he thought too hard about what he would say to her and ended up psyching himself out. Fangs didn't consider himself a very brave person, and his nervousness about seeing (Y/N) only proved it. Knowing that only made him feel even worse than he already did. 

He knew he had to go and see her. He couldn't wait until she was out of the hospital. He had to go and see her, and it had to be soon. 

'Soon' came a lot faster than he had anticipated when, on the fourth day after (Y/N) had regained consciousness, Jughead walked into the Serpents and Swords meeting and announced that they had a problem. 

"I was talking to Weatherbee," he said, "and he told me that (Y/N) was responsible for getting our dress code repealed." 

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Jughead. 

"(Y/N)?" said one of the Serpents sitting in the back. "The girl who got shot for Fangs?" 

"The very same." Jughead nodded, looking haunted. "The day I went to Weatherbee to create this group and get Fangs unsuspended, (Y/N) showed up and asked to talk to him about Fangs and something else. I was suspicious about it for a while, but she never did or said anything and nothing happened, so I forgot about it."

"Well, the dress code got repealed, so obviously she did something," Fangs pointed out with a bite in his voice. He gripped his pencil so tightly he was surprised it didn't snap. 

"Well, I know that now, but I didn't think it could have been her at the time." Jughead sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"And it sounds like she was also going to try and get Fangs' suspension cancelled, too," Toni said. "Fangs, did she ever say anything to you?" 

"You think I wouldn't have mentioned it if she had?" Fangs said irritably. "No, she never said anything." He remembered talking about it with her briefly on the day of his return, but she had never said or done anything to hint that she had anything to do with anything. For all he had known, Weatherbee had just had a change of heart about the whole thing. But it was (Y/N), again.

"Well, I got Fangs back, but (Y/N) obviously tried to do something about it too," Jughead said with another sigh. He leaned against the desk at the front of the room, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "And she got Weatherbee to back off, somehow." 

"Who cares about how she did it?" Sweet Pea demanded. "Why is she doing it? Why did she do anything for us?"

"I told you, Pea," Fangs said, "she just wanted to help us. She didn't need a reason to do it." 

"But that's not a reason," Sweet Pea insisted. "That isn't a good enough reason to do all of this for us. So why did she? And don't say it's because she sat with us in class, because that's not a reason, either."

"I told you, all she wants to do is help people! That's her reason!" Fangs sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Why didn't you ask her about it?" He asked Jughead angrily. 

"Because I never thought she could have done anything to change Weatherbee's mind," Jughead snapped back. "She never seemed like someone who could do something like that."

"Well, obviously you were wrong because she did! And how come it's only when it comes to (Y/N) you're not poking your nose into everything you think is suspicious-" 

"Hey!" Toni snapped. "Both of you, chill out. Jug, why is this a problem?"

"Because," Jughead said, "(Y/N) has been helping us this whole time, without asking for anything in return. And now she's taken a bullet for one of us, and we haven't done anything for her. We haven't even acknowledged her." He looked at Fangs. "She's an honourary Serpent. We can't let her think we'd forget her."

Fangs remembered that he had not been the only one to hear (Y/N)'s rambling that night. 

Then, someone in the back of the room spoke up. It was Katie, a junior student. "When Minetta showed up at school, (Y/N) tried to stop the Dark Circle."

Fangs turned around to stare at her in surprise. Everyone else did as well. 

"She did?" Toni asked. 

"Yeah, she did. When they came down the stairs, she tried to block their path and told them they didn't know it was Fangs who killed Midge. Mantle pushed her out of the way. Didn't knock her down or anything," she added when she noticed Fang's scowl, "he just pushed her aside."

"Standing up to the Dark Circle in their revenge-fueled rage, getting shot for Fangs, getting Weatherbee to take back the dress code and also planning to get Fangs' suspension repealed," Jughead listed, counting on his fingers. "Anything else?" 

Everyone looked around at each other. Fangs racked his mind for anything (Y/N) had done that he hadn't already mentioned to Jughead. 

"She hid my knife from the bio teacher," Sweet Pea said. Fangs looked over at his best friend. "Any other Northsider would have tattled, but she kept her mouth shut so I wouldn't get in trouble." Sweet Pea picked at the front of his shirt, trying to act casual. 

"She gave us directions to class on the first day here," called someone in the back. A few other people remembered her doing the same for them.

"She gave me help with math if I ever needed it," Toni said with a small smile. "Sometimes if neither of us got it, we worked together until we figured it out."

"A few times I noticed her saying a teacher was coming if a Northsider was going to give us trouble. They'd get paranoid and leave us alone after that," another person said. 

"Yeah, I saw her doing that a couple of times, too," said Sweet Pea. 

Fangs twisted his rings. She had been doing all these things for them and they had never noticed. "She was just always kind," he said. "You know? She cared about us."

"Maybe because she realized most others wouldn't," Jughead said, finishing Fangs' thought. 

Fangs abruptly stood up. He headed for the door. "I'm going to the hospital," he announced. "Anyone else want to come?" 

He didn't wait for an answer even as he heard chatter rising as he shut the door. By the time he heard Jughead calling for him to slow down, he was already at the school's front door. When he turned around, Sweet Pea was striding towards him, with Toni and Jughead jogging to catch up.

"The rest of the Serpents are going to come by later," Jughead explained as they walked down the front steps. "My dad and everyone else included. I'll make sure of it. This is more of an unofficial 'thank you' from the four of us."

Fangs nodded. He was a little relieved to know he wouldn't be going alone, and even more relieved to know that (Y/N) would get the thanks she deserved, not just from him, but from everyone else. 

When the four of them pulled up to the hospital on their motorcycles, Fangs felt more confident than he had all of the other times he had nearly gone in. 

* * *

"You're _sure_ , you're _certain_ that you weren't intentionally pushed in front of that Serpent?" Minetta snapped at you. In his frustration with you (which was completely mutual at this point), he had completely forgotten about writing down all your answers in his little notebook

"For the one-hundredth time, yes!" you snapped back. 

"Why would you do that? He's a criminal, and at that point, there was no reason to believe he wasn't the murderer-"

"Don't you have the _actual_ murderer down at the station right now?" you interrupted. "Along with the woman who _shot me?_ Why don't you do something useful and interrogate _them_ instead of me?" 

Minetta floundered for words for a second before he flipped his notebook shut and stood up. "I'll be in contact."

 _Please don't,_ you thought. What you said was, "Goodbye, Sheriff."

As the door shut behind him, you leaned back against your pillows, closed your eyes and sighed deeply. 

Only a few seconds after you shut your eyes, you heard the door opening again. Your eyes snapped open. "Will you just go away already?" You shouted, certain that it was Minetta coming to bother you again.

Then you saw who was standing there and you felt your face go hot with embarrassment. Fangs was in the doorway, his hand on the doorknob, looking alarmed about your less than enthusiastic greeting. 

"If this is a bad time, we can-" Fangs began, taking a step back. 

"No, no, it's fine," you said quickly, gesturing for him to come in. "I thought it was Minetta coming to bother me again. Sorry." You didn't miss the relieved look on his face when you said that. 

Fangs stepped into your room, giving you a small smile as he did. "Hey."

"Hi." You smiled back. He was here? He had finally come? You pinched your arm as subtly as you could, just to make sure it wasn't a dream. 

You saw Sweet Pea taking up nearly all the space in the doorway. Fangs followed your gaze and said, "Oh, yeah, my friends are here too, if that's okay." 

"Of course, it's fine," you said, gesturing for them to come in. Behind Sweet Pea were Toni and Jughead. The three of them joined Fangs and you, with Jughead and Sweet Pea standing at the foot of your bed while Fangs and Toni stood at your left side. 

"Hi, Jughead," you said. You took in the cuts and bruises on his face. "I heard you got pretty hurt on riot night. How are you now?"

Jughead looked surprised at your question before he hid it. "I'm fine. Thanks." 

"And how's Betty? Things must be pretty bad for her."

"She's handling it as well as she can." Jughead stared at you with a small frown on his face. 

"Tell her I'm thinking about her? I know we never really talked, but-"

"You're the one in the hospital bed, how can you _possibly_ be asking about other people?" Sweet Pea interrupted you, staring at you in disbelief. 

You shrugged and looked down at your hands. "Well, I want to make sure they're alright." You shrugged again. 

"How are _you_ , (Y/N)?" Fangs asked with concern in his voice. You noticed he was twisting the rings on his fingers, over and over again. "How are you feeling?"

You shrugged a third time. "I'm alright. The doctor says I should be able to go home in about a week." 

"Well, that's good." 

"Yeah. My parents are relieved." 

You glanced at the other three Serpents, who glanced around at each other, not saying anything. 

"I'm sorry," Fangs blurted out. You snapped back to him. His face had guilt written all over it. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to come back and see you. It was shitty of me to make you wait." 

You shrugged, looking down at your blanket and wishing your hospital gown sleeves were long enough to pull on. You didn't want him to feel guilty for something so simple. "It's fine. I get it."

"No, it's _not_ fine." He was suddenly holding your hands in his own. Your eyes widened and you looked up at him. His eyes were huge, desperate and filled with guilt. "You took a bullet for me. I could have been killed. You could have been killed because you saved me. I should have been here the moment you woke up. I'm so sorry I wasn't, and I'm so sorry it took me so long to come back."

You stared at him, mouth falling open slightly at his display of regret and remorse. This was what you had wanted, for him to come and see you, and for him to thank you for what you had done, but for it to happen after you had convinced yourself it wouldn't? 

You were unprepared. So you did what you always did. 

"No, seriously, I- it's-" you stumbled over your words. "A lot was going on and I-" 

"You deserved better," Fangs said firmly. "There are reasons I couldn't be here, but I still should have come." 

You glanced at the others and saw Sweet Pea awkwardly reach down and pat your leg. Toni smiled at you. Jughead nodded. 

"We named you an honourary Serpent after what you did," Jughead told you. "And as a Serpent, we should have behaved better towards you. No Serpent stands alone."

You blinked several times. An honourary Serpent? 

"And we found out you got our dress code repealed," Toni added. "That was a pretty big deal to us. We didn't know it was you who did it."

"I didn't think it would be important for you to know," you managed to say. 

"But it was," Toni insisted. "We thought it was just Weatherbee changing his mind, but you went out of your way to help us because you saw that we were being treated unfairly." She put her hand on your leg and gave it a gentle squeeze in support. 

"You hid my knife from the teacher," Sweet Pea said. You looked up at him in surprise. "I probably would have gotten in trouble if anyone saw it. You made sure no one did. That was pretty cool of you."

"It's nothing-"

"And according to our other Serpents, you've done some more things for us," Jughead continued. "You stood up to the Dark Circle when they tried to get to Fangs. You made sure the Serpents found their way around the school. You got the Northsiders to back off however you could. And you got shot for one of us. That isn't _nothing_." 

You remembered that Jughead had been there, too, during your confession. 

"And you helped me, my first day," Fangs said. He was still holding your hands. "You offered to share your script with me. No one else even looked at me. No one else except you. Do you know-"

"But that isn't-" you interrupted, shaking your head and pulling your hands back. Unable to pull on your sleeves, you held onto the railings on your hospital bed. "That isn't- I didn't do those things because I expected anything."

"And that's why it's so important that you did," said Jughead. "We've had some experience with people who only help because they want something in return." They all grimaced. 

"It's refreshing to know someone who helps just because they want to," Toni said with a smile. "Believe it or not, it's rare to us." 

"But-" you shook your head. "I'm not- I don't-"

"Why is it so hard for you to accept our thanks?" Sweet Pea interrupted. 

"Because," you said, your voice sounding faint to your ears, "you haven't actually... said it." 

The four exchanged looks and seemed to realize they hadn't, in fact, actually said "thank you" yet. 

Fangs put his hand over yours. When you looked at him, he smiled at you. 

"(Y/N)," he said your name firmly (you felt your face grow warm as you remembered confessing that you thought he didn't know your name and his insistence that he did), "thank you. You... you saved my life." He cleared his throat, blinking quickly. "You could have died for me and I can't really pay you back for that. I'm gonna try, though," he added, grinning at you. 

"We're all gonna try," Jughead corrected. "Mostly Fangs, probably, but all of us. Thank you, (Y/N). For helping the Serpents."

"You saved Fangs," Sweet Pea said, and when you looked at him, the complete lack of anger or mild annoyance in his expression caught you off guard. "You saved my best friend. I- thank you."

"Thank you, (Y/N)," Toni said warmly, squeezing your leg again. You blinked several times. 

"Try brushing us off now," Fangs gently teased you, using his free hand to give your shoulder a gentle push. You turned to stare at him, overwhelming emotions rising within you. "We don't say thank you to just anybody. You're someone special."

Your breath caught in your throat and that was all the warning you or anyone else had before you started crying. 

It was not a pretty cry. Tears were running faster than you could wipe them away. Violent sobs tore through your body, made even more painful by the still-healing wound in your stomach. You put your hand over your mouth to try and stifle them, but it made no difference. You were crying so hard you struggled to catch your breath and your hand fluttered uselessly over your chest for a few seconds before you clasped your hands to your cheeks, smearing your tears across your face. You bent over as much as you could without hurting yourself, burying your face in your hands to try and hide from the people around you. 

You felt a hand on your back and you didn't look to see who it was. Whoever it was started rubbing your back in circles, and you heard a voice. You couldn't hear what it said over your loud sobbing, but you managed to pick up on the calming tone. 

You were aware of the sound of the door shutting, and you, still crying, looked up to see that everyone except for Fangs had left the room and shut the door behind them. Fangs was rubbing your back, trying to help you calm down, but all you could do was keep crying. 

"(Y/N)," Fangs said. _"(Y/N)."_

"I'm sorry," you managed to choke out. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying, I just-" you swallowed, and a fresh wave of tears came. 

"It's okay," Fangs said, continuing to rub your back. "I think I get it." 

You peered over at Fangs through watery eyes. 

He noticed your questioning stare. "Everything you said," he said quietly, "when you were... hurt."

You felt heat crawl up your neck and you moaned, covering your face with your hands again. 

"It's _okay_ ," Fangs insisted. You didn't uncover your face. Tears dripped onto your hands. "You needed to say it. I needed to hear it. I didn't show you how much I appreciated your friendship. I made you feel unimportant." 

_Friendship_? Did he think of you as a friend? 

You slowly uncovered your face and found Fangs looking at you. He looked distraught and remorseful. 

"I'm sorry," he said. 

You blinked and found that although a few tears still leaked out, you had mostly stopped crying. 

"It-" you took a deep breath. "It wasn't just you." Were you really going to tell him? "It's just - I've felt that way my whole life. I wasn't ever... important to what happened in town. Just. In the background. Because I wasn't- I'm not special." You swallowed and it hurt. "It wasn't just you. It wasn't your fault."

"But did I make it worse?" Fangs asked.

"No," you said. You chewed your lip. "I didn't expect anything."

Fangs nodded slowly, looking like he didn't entirely believe you. "But I still should have done something," he said quietly. "I never told you how much it meant to me that you helped me on that first day. No one wanted to help. You did. And you kept helping me. I should have said something sooner. I could have at least talked to you outside of class. It was so _shitty_ of me - I kept telling myself that sooner or later I would, but I never did, and-" he huffed in irritation. 

"Can I ask something?" He nodded. You hesitated before voicing what you had wondered for so long: "Why did you keep sitting with me?"

"Because I wanted to," he said immediately. "I liked sitting with you. You were genuinely sweet. Do you know how rare that is? In this town? Almost no one ever does anything nice for no reason. You did. That's something special, (Y/N). _You're_ special, (Y/N).

"You helped us because you wanted to help us," Fangs continued. "You tried to stop the Dark Circle. You got Weatherbee to back off. You helped the Serpents whenever they needed it, however they needed it, even if it could have gotten you in trouble. They all want to come and thank you. Because everything you did was important to us, (Y/N), and even if you don't expect anything in return, we want to repay you somehow."

You didn't cry this time, but it was a near thing. No one had ever said anything like that to you before. 

"You also got FP _and_ Jughead's approval, which isn't something to take lightly," Fangs added. "So, you can probably have the Serpents doing favours for you for the rest of your life, if you want."

" _No_ ," You stated immediately.

"Just kidding." Fangs smiled. "Figured you wouldn't want anything like that." He ruffled his hair. "We'll figure something out." 

"You don't have to."

"We know. But we're going to. I'm going to. You deserve it."

You felt like you were having a dream. This was everything you had wanted to happen, and it couldn't be real. 

But it was. 

Fangs _cared_ about you. He cared about _you_ , he thought of you as a _friend_ , he thought you were _special and important,_ and he was _sorry_. He was sorry for not showing you he cared. Because he did care. Everything you had wanted but had convinced yourself wouldn't, _couldn't_ happen was happening. 

You felt light-headed, half because of how hard you had cried and half because of how surreal this all was. You wiped away any remaining traces of tears. 

"You saved my _life_ ," Fangs said. "And I-" you realized there were tears in his eyes. "Thank you, (Y/N)." 

Fangs cared about you. He was thanking you. That was real. It wasn't a dream.

You smiled for the first time that day. "You're welcome." 

The others came back in eventually, once they were sure Fangs had calmed you down, and sat down to talk with you. Jughead acted nicer than he usually did, which was strange but not unwelcome. Sweet Pea remained the same as he always was, but seemed to have dropped his guard with you. He even smiled and laughed a couple of times. Toni was her normal, sweet, snarky self. They stayed for a couple of hours. Fangs stayed until visiting hours were over. 

You were tempted to remind him that he didn't have to stay but managed to force yourself not to tell him. Unlike before, when he sat with you in class, you knew now that he _wanted_ to stay. 

* * *

Fangs' mother and your mom got along very well, to both Fangs and your embarrassment. 

The day after Fangs had come to visit you, he returned, his mother leading the way, eager to finally meet the girl who had saved her son. Your parents had been in the room at the time and were just as eager to see Fangs again. His mother gave you a long, warm hug, thanking you over and over again for saving her boy. When you looked over her shoulder at Fangs, you couldn't tell if he was embarrassed or happy. 

His mother was a sweet woman, telling you and your parents that she could never repay you for what you had done, despite your insistence that it was alright. When she and your mother started talking, you and Fangs shared the universal experience of being embarrassed by your parents. 

Then Fangs' mother said, "And it's so wonderful to meet the girl he's been talking about for so long!"

You first assumed she meant from the past week, but no, she went on to say that Fangs had mentioned you at home several times since starting school at Riverdale High. You blushed. 

"God, I'm such an asshole," Fangs said under his breath. You nudged him in the arm with your elbow. 

"I've forgiven you," you said. "It's okay." 

He gave you a half-hearted smile, then perked up. "The Serpents are coming by tonight. I almost forgot to warn you. Didn't want you having a heart attack when twenty or thirty gangsters came by to thank you." He winked at you and you gave him a light slap in the shoulder. 

* * *

The Serpents came by, just like Fangs had promised. They were only allowed in a few members at a time. You could only imagine what the waiting room looked like. 

Most of them were people from school, thanking you for protecting one of their own and for your involvement in the dress code situation. It was easy to talk to them. Some of them asked you what it was like to get shot, a tinge of admiration in their voice. You did your best not to flinch, and you avoided telling them how terrified you had been, and honestly said, "It didn't feel like anything." 

Sweet Pea asked if you were going to have a scar. Toni slapped him in the arm for asking, but you shrugged and said, "Probably, yeah." He nodded in approval. 

The older Serpents were much harder to deal with. These were old, tough gangsters, with more tattoos and leather than you had seen on any of the Serpents so far, each of them bigger and certainly stronger than most people were on the Northside. 

Any fear you had of them melted away pretty quickly when one of them, nicknamed "Nails", entered in tears, thanked you in a choked-up voice for saving one of their own, and gave you a vase of flowers and a "Get Well Soon!" balloon. 

Others had experience of their own with gunshot wounds, giving you advice and tips for how to deal with it in the future. One or two gave you advice for dealing with possible trauma and PTSD afterwards, since they, too, had had life-threatening injuries. 

You liked them. You had been told by Fangs and Jughead that a lot of the gang had run away and joined a different gang, or left Riverdale altogether. The ones remaining might have been some of the best ones.

FP was an interesting man. You were still wary of him, just a little, for his involvement in Jason Blossom's murder, but he was nice enough even if he didn't seem it. 

"Why did you do it?" He asked you, studying you with a frown. Jughead gave his dad a look and Fangs glared at him. "I still haven't figured that out yet." 

You looked him right in the eye. "Because I wanted to help. Because I liked Fangs and I wanted to help him."

FP looked doubtful. "That's what my boy said."

"Well, it's true." You shrugged. "That's really all there is to it." 

FP studied you a moment longer. Then he smiled. 

"She's a good one," he said, giving Fangs a little shove. 

"I know that," Fangs said, shooting you a grin. 

* * *

A week later you left the hospital, and Fangs quickly killed any thoughts you had about him leaving you as soon as you were well again. He brought you to physical therapy when your parents couldn't, borrowing FP's truck because he knew better than to put you on a motorcycle in your current state. He came by almost every day with all of your homework while you were bedridden. (Sometimes Sweet Pea or Toni came with him. Sweet Pea told you bluntly that you were the only good biology partner. Toni complained to you about Mr. Bell holding a test when there were students traumatized by the riots.) He brought you food from Pop's without you asking him to do it. One day he came over with a pair of DVDs from the library.

"You get to choose," he said, sitting at the arm of the end of the couch. You looked at the DVDs he had brought, a copy of the 1967 version of _Taming of the Shrew_ and a copy of _10 Things I Hate About You._

You held up _10 Things I Hate About You_. "He lies to her but at least he's not an abusive prick." 

"Fair." He took the movie from you and put it into the DVD player under the TV. He came back to the couch and you drew your feet in, letting him sit down. 

"How were classes?" 

Fangs shrugged. "Fine. Missed you, though." He was telling you things like that a lot more often now. At first it had flustered you - it still did, to be honest. "The protest happened today," he added, squeezing your ankle. He knew you were upset that you had to miss out on helping keep the Southsiders at Riverdale High. 

You perked up. "How did it go?" 

He shrugged again. "I think it worked. There hasn't been a real answer yet, though, but Weatherbee didn't expel anyone, so that's probably good, right?"

You smiled. "So I guess we're stuck with each other." You gently poked him in the side with your foot. 

Fangs grinned at you. "I guess we are." 

"And you're okay with that." It came out somewhere between a statement and a question, and you focused on the movie so you didn't have to see the sad look you knew had appeared on Fangs' face for a moment. 

You felt him put his hand on your knee. You kept your eyes forward. 

"I'm happy about that, (Y/N)," he said. You chanced a look at him and found him staring at you so intensely, so earnestly that you had to look somewhere else or you felt you may cry. 

You nodded, still not quite able to meet his eyes. He sighed, patted your knee, and turned back to the movie. 

As the two of you watched the movie, Fangs giving a running commentary not unlike how he was in class, you found yourself looking at him again. 

A few months ago, you had been alone. A few months ago, this would have been unthinkable. But now you were here, watching a movie with Fangs Fogarty, who thought of you as a friend, who never hesitated to remind you of your importance, who cared about you just as much as you cared about him.

You were still struggling to come to terms with your self-worth, struggling to realize your _lack_ of self-worth was an issue at all and not just you being realistic. You still woke up sometimes in the morning terrified that today would be the day Fangs realized you weren't worth the effort, or that he was only doing this because he felt guilty. 

But he was here, with you, and constantly made sure you knew he was here by choice, that he cared about you. That he saw you. You weren't overlooked by him. 

He was helping you, the way you had helped him. 

"Fangs?" You said before you thought better of it. 

Fangs looked over at you. "Yeah?" 

You took a deep breath. "Just. Thank you."

Fangs stared at you, studying your face. Then he gave you a soft smile. "No problem."

You were no star athlete, you weren't a genius, your family was working middle-class, you weren't popular or an outcast at school - you were just normal. Average. 

You were normal, but you weren't a nobody. You had people in your life who wanted you in their lives, who saw you as someone, someone _special_. 

You sank deeper into the couch, wincing a little bit as a dull pain in your stomach stung you. Fangs asked if you were okay and when you assured him you were, he let you put your feet up on top of him. 

A few months ago, you had been alone. You weren't alone anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> I did my best to make this story as inclusive as possible and I checked it several times, but if anyone notices something about how I wrote "Y/N" and her physical traits that bothers them, feel free to let me know. 
> 
> The title is a combination of Ruelle's "Hero" and Banners' "Someone to You".
> 
> I've been working on this for a very long time so if you could leave a review it would mean a lot. Thank you!


End file.
